Goodbye Diabolik

The first movie I ever saw John Phillip Law in was The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. Man, did I love me some Sinbad when I was a kid. Law wasn’t a great actor, but was a dynamic screen presence. He didn’t really make a lot of movies, good ones anyway, but a few of them like Diabolik, Barbarella, and Death Rides a Horse, are cult classics.

Cinebeats has the highlights of Law’s career, including some very interesting looking films I had no idea he had made, movies like The Sergeant with Rod Steiger.

R.I.P. Phil.

God you’re ugly

If… [1968]

Dir. Lindsey Anderson
Starring: Malcolm McDowell, David Wood, Richard Warwick, Christine Noonan

• There’s something indecent about you Travis. The way you slouch about. You think we don’t notice you with your hands in your pockets. The way you just sit there looking at everyone.

I was about fifteen the first time I saw If…. We had just gotten cable and it played in a cycle for several weeks. I couldn’t figure it all out because so much of it was completely absurd. What did it mean when Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell) and Johnny (David Wood) are handcuffed together as they run through the square? What did it mean when the Head Master pulls out a giant drawer and the Chaplain is inside it? What did it mean when Travis wrestles with The Girl (Christine Noonan) in the café? I couldn’t be sure. But I completely related to the images of youth vs. age, and the defiance of growing older and being assimilated into the “order” of adulthood.

If… takes place in a British college where hierarchy, routine, discipline and rules are what life is made of. The students are being molded as foot soldiers for the system, clones and drones in which to keep the machine and collective running. Some of these students revel in their roles, some simply go along, and others, like Travis, are constantly devising a way out or a way to change or destroy the system.

McDowell is a screen presence that doesn’t have to say anything to impress. His face is at once hideous and handsome, an image director Lindsey Anderson (This Sporting Life) plays with at the beginning of the film. When we first meet Travis, he’s a mystery, his face literally hidden from us with a scarf. When he removes the scarf, a mustache is revealed, forbidden by the school. Travis trims it off, his friend commenting on his bizarre looks, a cinematic moment for both the hero of the film and McDowell.

Johnny:
God you’re ugly. You look evil.

Travis:
My face is a never fading source of wonder to me.

Travis is like an English Holden Caulfield from “Catcher In the Rye”, if not in personality, then as a spirit born to question authority. When being disciplined by Rowntree, the head whip, for their subversive attitude, the “Crusaders” are asked if they have anything to say. The others keep quiet. But Travis doesn’t roll like that.

• The thing I hate about you Rowntree is the way you give coke a cola to your scum and your best “teddy bear” to Oxfand, and expect us to lick your frigid fingers for the rest of your frigid life.

At College House, sexual aggravation abounds, as there are no women, except for the elderly nurse and the Head Master’s wife (who walks around the school naked when no one is around). The girl that Travis and Johnny meet after stealing a motorcycle, seems to be both real and a aberration. In the absence of females, an atmosphere of male prison hierarchy rises, with The Whips having their pick of Juniors (teddy bears) as assistants.

Anderson and cinematographer Miroslav Ondrícek (Amadeus) create a poetic world, some moments in color, others in black and white, while “Travis’s Theme” (what sounds like a South African choir, the congas synchronized with Travis’s free beating heart) plays through out. The third act takes on a surreal atmosphere, funny and horrific, often producing absurd imagery that resembles the work of Richard Lester or Jean Luc Godard. The ending is remarkable and foreshadows the tragedy of “Columbine” by thirty years. Although Anderson’s take on the “Crusader’s” ultimate destructive act is completely insane, it doesn’t dilute or undermine the emotional impact of the scene.

If… is a great coming of age film and great satire. Released around the same time as other great sixties films of rebellion like Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, and Easy Rider, but not mentioned enough in the same historical sense. Anderson and McDowell would go on to make two more films featuring the character of Mick Travis, O’ Lucky Man (1973) and Britannia Hospital (1982).

Battle Royale

Battle Royale (2000)
Dir. Kinji Fukasaku
“Beat” Takeshi Kitano, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda

Could a movie like Kinji Fukasaku’s Battle Royale be made in America? I doubt it. Especially post 9/11. There were rumors of it being made at one point, but I haven’t heard anything of late. There have been plenty of U.S. horror flicks, exploitation flicks, and violent action flicks after the fall of the towers and the invasion of Iraq, some even addressing the events, but none really condemning violence and war itself. None that I can think of anyway. Is War of the Worlds anti war because it depicts a scene reminiscent of people running as the towers fell? How about the current Cloverfield? An obvious analogy to the events of 9/11. I didn’t see it, and although I read a few objectionable reviews about using 9/11 as a platform for a horror movie, it seemed like most viewers took it for what it was, a monster movie.

What does 9/11 have to do with Battle Royale? Nothing really. It came out in 2000, a full year after the killings at Columbine High and a year before 9/11. I think its what has happened in America after 9/11, where Battle Royal seems to reflect American society. In Fukasaku’s film, during a national crisis in Japan with millions out of work, the government, in a panic, implements the “Battle Royal” act.

• “At the dawn of the millennium, the nation collapsed. At fifteen percent unemployment, ten million were out of work. 800,000 students boycotted school. The adults lost confidence, and fearing the youth, eventually passed the Millennium Educational Reform Act - AKA: The BR Act…”

The BR act involves a game, in which every year an entire class of high-schoolers are shipped to an island and forced to kill each other. The sole survivor of the game gets to live and return home, but only if everyone else is killed. Special collars are fitted on each student. If the rules aren’t followed, the collar explodes, taking their head off. The games apparently are followed by the general public, although they aren’t televised. The winner however, is video tapped on their return.

To many film-goers this premise seemed ridiculous and absurd. But it wasn’t to Fukasaku, who grew up during WWII in Japan, and saw first hand how a civilization can be brought to barbarism. How family and friends can easily turn on each other when the will to survive kicks in and instincts take over. And as far as the BR act being more science fiction than fact, the “Patriot Act” was implemented merely a month after 9/11, giving law enforcement agencies unprecedented powers in the name of “national security”.

What’s amazing about Fukasaku is that he strips all romantic notions about war and violence from his films. That’s something that Americans can’t seem to do. Saving Private Ryan for all its amazing technical achievements, and realistic depictions of battle, still had a sentimental and nostalgic atmosphere to it. I remember seeing the trailer for that film, where they used an image ripped right out of Gone with The Wind where Scarlett O’Hara claims she’ll never go hungry again, with the sunset setting behind her. In the trailer, it’s the image of a soldier just coming over a hill. This is how Hollywood depicts war and violence, with romance.

You won’t find that in Fukasakus films, and it’s the real reason Battle Royale was never released in America, and probably will never be remade here. He addresses the cause of violence head on, the reasons why we kill, the reasons why we kill our own brothers, or send them off to be killed, in a ritualistic attempt to appease the gods, that have forsaken us; blown up the volcano, raised the river, broke the damn and bombed the city.

It’s easy to be fooled by Fukasaku’s B-Movie style into thinking Battle Royale is nothing more than an exploitation flick. Indeed, Fukusaku knows his exploitation, but unlike say Brian DePalma or Tarantino, Fukusaku is sharing first hand experience of the human condition under the most terrifying conditions. He’s seen what humans are capable of doing, much more horrific than anything Michael Myers or Jason or Freddy Kruger could ever hope to achieve or imagine.

So, how come America looks forward to the remakes of “Halloween” and “Dawn of the Dead”, but shuns the genius of Battle Royale ?

It’s hard to look in the mirror sometimes.

Chuck Heston R.I.P

I hated his politics, but I guess Badazz Mofo explains it the best for me.

I Hate Movies

Actually, I love movies.

So how come I don’t got see them anymore? There was a time I would not miss an opening of either an anticipated blockbuster like “Transformers” or a smaller flick like “Juno”. Haven’t seen either one of them. These days when it comes to going to the flicks I don’t really give a shit and I’m not sure exactly why. Although I didn’t see “No Country For Old Men” in the theaters, I did read the book. Let’s just say, it wasn’t any “Blood Meridian”, but was somewhat entertaining.  Anyway, after reading the book, I felt I had already seen the movie.  It read like a movie script. I didn’t see “There Will Be Blood” or “Michael Clayton” but I did read the scripts, and enjoyed both of them, very good reads. So I’ll read the book or script of a film, but for some reason won’t get my lazy ass up to see the movie in the theater. I don’t know.

I got back on the Netflix thing recently. I had been a member from the start, then dropped it after I figured out that you couldn’t rent as many movies as you wanted in a month no matter how hard you tried. The mail service only works so fast. Plus, despite the fact that there was no limit, I felt pressured to rent as many DVD’s as I could to make the investment worth my while. I never felt relaxed with the shit, so I let it go. Then I buckled under the numerous “Please come back to Netflix” emails.

So far I’ve rented four DVD’s. “The Collector” and “Harper” and “Cruising”. And although I had seen it before, I couldn’t get through “The Days of Wine and Roses”.

Talk about a schizophrenic flick. Is it a comedy? Is it a drama? Is it a drama with comedy? I love Jack Lemmon, he gives his all in the movie, but he was miscast. He pulls some of those classic Jack Lemmon faces that simply undermine the integrity of the material. And Blake Edwards is as pedestrian a director as they come. What did catch my attention about the flick was the lighting. Amazing. Lee Remick is great in it. Maybe I should have put her character in the “Tragic Vixen” post.

The weird thing about the movie and Lemmon’s performance is that it can’t escape, from my mind at least, the numerous comedic characters that Lemmon had performed all around it. “The Days of Wine and Roses” came out in 1962. From 1960 to 1968, Lemmon performed mostly in comedies. “The Apartment”, “Irma LeDuce”, “How To Murder Your Wife”, “Good Neighbor Sam”, “The Great Race”, “The Fortune Cookie” and “The Odd Couple”. And although “Wine” came out before several of those films, I can’t stop thinking about Lemmon as a comedic actor instead of an actor. So I didn’t buy him in “Wine”, and some of it is his fault for getting his Lemmon on with the character. However, he did rock it in “Glenn Gary Glenn Ross” and “Short Cuts”. I guess Cliff Robertson played the Lemmon role in Playhouse 90’s original in 1958. Maybe that’s the one to find.

I couldn’t sleep the other night so I decided to prowl through my girlfriend’s VHS library and ended up popping in David Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive”. Lynch is a true American original, right up there with Altman as an iconoclast, and Woody Allen as an auteur . I was blown away by “Mulholland Drive” when I saw it in the theater, when I still went to movies, and I was still blown away by it, even on pan and scan VHS.

Other than Fellini, I don’t know of another filmmaker that can capture the elusiveness and familiarity of dreams on film. Anyway, the movie is mesmerizing, and reminded me, at 2:30 in the morning, why I love movies, even though I don’t go see them anymore. Even though I was anticipating when that dude behind the dumpster appears, I was so determined not to get freaked out that… I GOT FREAKED OUT.

Silencio!

Movies My Dad Should Not Have Taken Me To See… But Glad He Did.

My dad would have been 81 years old today. He died back in 1980. And although I was thirteen when he passed, I still have some fond memories, especially when we went to the flicks. Thinking back, I saw some crazy shit before I was ten years old. Shit I probably shouldn’t have seen. But that was the seventies and people were crazy.

Some of these memories have blurred over the years, and I can’t recall exactly if my dad took me to see “Logan’s Run”, or “The Light at the Edge of the World” or if I just watched them on TV by myself, thinking they were the kind of flick we would have seen together. But there are a few I’m certain about.

GORDON’S WAR (1973)
Dir. Ossie Davis
Starring: Paul Winfield – Carl Lee

A buddy of mine made a documentary about the Blaxploitation era. During his research he let me watch several of the films he found. One of them was “Gordon’s War”. What I didn’t realize, until one scene in particular that jogged my memory, is that I had seen the movie before, when I was seven years old. My dad took me to it, and it’s the earliest film I remember seeing with him. There’s a scene where these dudes bust into a room on another dude and his woman, both butt naked. The naked dude dives for his gun on the night table. I remember thinking: Hey, that dude is naked! Of course he doesn’t make it, and the two thugs plug him full of lead. My first exposure to sex and violence on the big screen. Thanks Dad!

WHITE LIGHTNING (1973)
Dir. Joseph Sargent
Starring: Burt Reynolds – Ned Beatty – Bo Hopkins

Another one that fucked me up. Right off the bat the violence was unsettling. In particular the opening scene, when Sheriff Connors (Beatty) rows into a swamp, towing a canoe behind him. In the canoe are two young men, gagged and tied to heavy cinder blocks. Suddenly, the Sheriff stops, points a shotgun at the canoe’s hull and blows a hole in it. The young men sink, struggling with all their might to break free before they drown. It’s no use. The Sheriff casually rows away, barely looking back at his handy work. Just another day to this guy. His mistake was that one of the young men he kills is the brother of Gator McKlusky (Reynolds) who when he finds out what happens, gets his hickploitation on. “White Lightning” isn’t a great movie, but it’s entertaining. Tarantino used some of the music in his film “Kill Bill”.

DIRTY MARY CRAZY LARRY (1974)
Dir. John Hough
Starring: Peter Fonda – Susan George

I remember the ending when Mary and Larry have gotten away from the bad guys, they’re rolling down the highway at a good eighty miles an hour, then… BOOM. They collide with a train and explode. Roll credits. I remember my dad looking down at me with an expression that said: What the fuck was that?

RETURN OF THE PINK PANTHER (1975)
Dir. Blake Edwards
Starring: Peter Sellars – Christopher Plummer – Herbert Lom

What I dug about this movie was the opening scene where the jewel thief uses all these cool gadgets to bust into the museum and rip off the Pink Panther Emerald. I remember thinking: This is bad ass. Then when Peter Sellers comes on the scene, I laughed my ass off, especially the fights between him and his servant Kato. This was a new super hero I had discovered I could add to the list: Batman, The Six Million Dollar Man, Bruce Lee and now Insp. Jacques Clouseau. From then on, every time a new Pink Panther movie came out was like a holiday.

BAMBI (1942)
Re-release (1975)
Dir. David Hand

Most people talk about the scene when Bambi’s mother gets shot. But the scene I remember is the forest fire, when Bambi and his father are trying to run through the flames and escape the inferno. We saw this one at the Broadway theater. It had high-rise seats. It seemed like you had to climb a mountain and then you were sitting on the edge of a cliff while watching the movie. I could never get comfortable. But later I would discover the Broadway was the best place to sneak into several movies, because it had about four theaters, and was so fucking dark, nobody could see you move in and out. Nor did they give a shit. It was downtown, but it was ghetto as hell. Good times.

VIGILANTE FORCE (1976)
Dir. George Armitage
Starring: Kris Kristofferson – Jan Michael Vincent – Victoria Principle

The scene that messed me up is when Kris Kristofferson tells Victoria Principle to run… then shoots her in the back where she falls dead in a ditch. That was some cold-blooded shit. I do seem to remember Kristofferson exploding in a ball of fire at the end. Oh yeah, and he and his henchmen are wearing some kind of Sgt. Pepper uniforms or something. Anyway. It sucked.

KING KONG (1976)
Dir. John Guillermin
Starring: Jeff Bridges – Jessica Lang – Charles Grodin

I always get a kick out of this one whenever it’s on TV. It’s a real turd, but it’s so cheesy and the special effects are so crappy, it’s one of those: it’s so bad it’s good flicks. I remember the scene when Kong is on the World Trade Center getting shot up, and he jumps from one tower over to the other to escape. It was a worms eye shot of Kong flying through the air between the towers, and I was thinking: “There’s no way he could do that!” Never mind the fact that the whole thing was ridiculous. Man, but was I looking forward to seeing this movie, mostly because of the bad ass poster of Kong standing on the Twin Towers, crushing a rocket in one hand and holding a hot chick in the other.

I was severely disappointed when the size of Kong in the poster did not match up with the size of Kong in the film. What a fucking rip off.

OUTLAW BLUES (1977)
Dir. Richard T. Heffron
Starring: Peter Fonda – Susan Saint James

This might have been part of a double feature with “Dirty Mary Crazy Larry”. I don’t remember shit about this movie other than having to listen to Peter Fonda sing. I remember it was a pain in the ass.

CONVOY (197
Dir. Sam Peckinpah
Starring: Kris Kristofferson – Ali MacGraw – Ernest Borgnine

I remember Ali MacGraw surprising Kris Kristofferson in the cab of his truck wearing nothing but a bow. I remember thinking: Damn, she’s naked! I remember Ernest Borgnine’s ugly mug. I remember Kristofferson’s truck rolling off a bridge. Is there anything else worth remembering in this movie? I doubt it.

PROPHESY (1979)
Dir. John Frankenheimer
Starring: Robert Foxworth – Talia Shire – Armand Assante

This was probably the last movie I saw with my dad, which is a god damn shame because it’s a piece of shit. “All The Presidents Men” was showing at the same theater that “Prophesy” was playing at. My dad wanted to see “Men”, but he deferred to me. After taking a look at the posters in the lobby, I chose “Prophecy”. I remember my dad giving me a look like: “Boy, are you crazy?” But I didn’t care. I mean… look at the posters. One is stupid and the other is bad ass.

“Prophecy” was one of the first movies I saw as an adolescent that I realized while I was watching it, that it was a piece of shit. I was getting older. And my dad was right, we should have seen “All The Presidents Men”. I wouldn’t have been able to figure out what the hell the movie was about, but then again, I couldn’t figure out “Prophecy” either. The only parts of the movie I remember are a giant fish in a lake, and some dude gets his head bit off by a deformed bear. The shit was S-T-U-P-I-D.

SCARMAOUCHE (1952)
Dir. George Sidney
Starring: Stewart Granger – Janet Leigh – Mel Ferrer

This played at some revival theater in the late seventies. I remember my dad showing me the ad for this in the paper and asking me if I wanted to go. I knew I didn’t the minute I laid eyes on it. It looked stupid. The guy was wearing tights and looked like a ballet dance. I didn’t want to go see a damn ballet. Besides, there was all kinds of cool shit we could see, like “Superman” or “Star Wars” or just about any damn thing but “Scratch-a-my-Whatever” it’s supposed to be. I couldn’t even pronounce it. “Sure, Evan. Let’s go”. So we went, me cursing under my breath the whole way.

The minute the movie started, I was blown away. The Technicolor exploded through out the theater. Janet Leigh was beautiful. Stewart Granger was funny. And the actor playing his brother was familiar. Hey! That’s Oscar Goldman! Mel Ferrer was a bad ass villain. And the sword fighting was brilliant. This flick had everything you want from a story. I forgot I was in a theater. I forgot I was watching a movie. I forgot time.

If they have movies in the afterlife, I’m sure my dad is watching one right now and thinking to himself… what the fuck is this shit?

Top Ten Henchmen

Empire Magazine has layed out its top ten movie henchmen.

1. Wez – The Road Warrior (1981)
2. Odd Jobb – Goldfinger (1964)
3. Tony and Joey - Midnight Run (198
4. Luca Brasi - The Godfather (1972)
5. Uli - Die Hard (198
6. Manny - Scarface (1983)
7. Powell - National Treasure (2004)
8. Mr. Joshua - Lethal Weapon (1987)
9. Maximillian - The Black Hole (1979)
10. The Flying Monkeys - The Wizard Of Oz (1939)

Wez and Odd Jobb are agreed. But the rest? “Maximillian” from “The Black Hole”? “Powell” from “National Treasure”? Who the hell are those idiots? The flying monkeys is inspired, but the rest make no sense.

Here’s Grumpy Guy’s top ten movie henchmen.

10. Romero (Frank Doubleday)
Boss: The Duke of New York
ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1982)

Romero is kind of a pussy, less of a henchman and more of a court jester. But weird and unsettling. If he doesn’t do the ass kicking himself, he’s at least organizing the shit. I didn’t like the guy the minute he turns up on screen.

9. Bolo (Bolo Yeung)
Boss: Han
ENTER THE DRAGON (1973)

This is a dude who can’t wait to break some necks and some spinal chords with his bare hands. What’s laughable is that John Saxon gets the better of him in the movie. Yeah. Right.

8. Jaws (Richard Kiel)
Boss: Karl Stromberg
THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1976)

A bit cartoonish, but an entertaining henchman. I could never stop looking at that knot in the middle of his forehead. It freaked me out more than the teeth.

7. Molly (Joe Don Baker)
Boss: The Mob
CHARLEY VARRICK

Okay, I might be drawing a line here between henchman and hitman, but they basically perform the same functions at times. Molly is one determined, sadistic, fuck wad. He definitely takes after Odd Job, using a sinister smile to unnerve his opponents before stomping a mud hole in someone’s ass.

6. Gort (Lock Martin)
Boss: Klaatu
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1950)

Who says the henchman has to be a bad guy? What I dig about Gort is that he can kill an entire planet if he has too.

5. Wilmer (Elisha Cook Jr.)
Boss: Kasper Gutman (The Fat Man)
THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)

Probably the most emotionally insecure henchman in all of cinema. I think Bogie kicks his ass twice and makes him cry at least once. What I like about Wilmer is his loyalty, very important in henchmen, and his false sense of bad assness. He’s a crybaby.

4. Al Neri (Richard Bright)
Boss: Michael Corleone
THE GODFATHER (1972)

Empire chose Luca Brasi at number four on their list from The Godfather. But Luca is never shown actually killing anybody. The bad ass henchman in the family is Al Neri, who off’s Don Barzini at the end of I and wacks Fredo in II. Wacking the boss’s brother… now that’s cold blooded.

3. Pierre Nicoli (Marcel Bozzuffi)
Boss: Alain Charnier
THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)

This is one wormy son of a bitch. But he’s a bad ass. Killing mofo’s and stealing their groceries.

2. Wez (Vernon Wells)
Boss: Lord Humungus
THE ROAD WARRIOR (1981)

I remember seeing this in the summer of ’81 at theater called the Avalon. The Avalon seats about ten people. I was in the front row. This movie was larger than life, and Wez was the kind of crazy villain you knew even if you killed him, he would not die. He’s that kind of a bad ass.

1. Odd Job (Harold Sakata)
Boss: Auric Goldfinger
GOLDFINGER (1964)

Odd Job was scary, not because of his guillotine hat, but because of his smile. I think he was the first villain to smile at a mofo while he was kicking ass.

Honorable mention:

Weenie (Gregory Walcott)
Boss: Mary Ann
PRIME CUT (1972)
Weenie, a large boned, hick, idiot, helps his brother, Mary Ann, make hot dogs out of anything — including people that annoy them.

Claude Mulvihill (Roy Jensen)
Boss: Noah Cross
CHINATOWN (1974)
Mulvihill is mostly there as fodder for Jack Nicholson to ridicule, but he gets a few good licks in at times. Jensen also played a pretty good henchmen named Puddler in “Harper”.

Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci)
Boss: Paul Cicero
GOODFELLAS (1990)
Too much of a central character to be a true cinematic henchman, but still technically qualifies.

Michael (Hal Baker)
Boss: Lou Craddock
A BOY AND HIS DOG (1975)
Michael is actually several different androids played by one actor, but he’s creepy as hell.

Mr. French (Ray Winstone)
Boss: Frank Costello
THE DEPARTED (2006)
A fine henchman that may bump out “Jaws” or “Bolo” someday from the top ten.

Darth Vader (James Earl Jones and David Prowse)
Boss: The Emperor
STAR WARS (1977)
Technically Darth is a henchman, but Like Tommy DeVito, too central a character, so he misses the top ten.

Film Review: The Collector

THE COLLECTOR (1965)
Dir. William Wyler
Starring: Terence Stamp, Samantha Eggar

Director William Wyler, in his long and productive career, helmed some famous movies, including “Wuthering Heights” (1939), “Mrs. Miniver” (1942), “Roman Holiday” (1953) and “Ben Hur” (1959). One of the last films he directed was “The Collector”, the story about the origins of a serial killer, a film that influenced many modern horror stories, including “Silence of the Lambs” and “Misery”.

Based on a novel by John Fowles, “The Collector” is about Freddie Clegg (a sharp looking Terence Stamp). Freddie is a lonely butterfly collector, who wins a fortune betting on sports and buys himself a secluded home in the English country. Desperate for companionship, Freddie kidnaps a young woman, Miranda Grey (Samantha Eggar), a girl Freddie grew up fantasizing about, with her not knowing he existed.

Freddie makes a home for Miranda in his secured cellar, a dungeon really, decorated with the comforts of home. His intentions, he claims, are not to harm her, but for her to fall in love with him. Miranda tries every trick in the book trying to escape, but only succeeds in festering Freddie’s psychotic personality.

The film has a theater-type atmosphere, as it mostly takes place in the cellar. It looks similar to Hannibal Lecter’s prison cell in “Silence of the Lambs”, walled with large stones and covered with artwork, in this case Miranda’s drawings.

Terence Stamp is great as Freddie, his handsome features and meek frame garnish instant sympathy, and make his transformation from kidnapper to potential serial killer truly unsettling. Freddie, like Annie Wilkes in “Misery”, likes to use the term “La De Da”, when referring to people who think they’re better than he is. Despite his soft spoken manner, and well groomed exterior, Freddie is a time bomb, desperate for someone to defuse him before he explodes.

The only other film I can think of before “The Collector” that has had more impact on the “serial killer” genre would be “Psycho”, a much more famous and celebrated film. The genre since ’65, has become more graphic and more brutal, but the nature of the characters have not changed. Norman Bates, Travis Bickle, Jamie Gumm, Annie Wilkes and Freddie Clegg are all psychotics attempting to feel and find something they don’t have the human capacity to understand. The ability to love and be loved.

Movies: The Tragic Vixen

A close cousin to the Femme Fatale, the Tragic Vixen isn’t motivated by the murderous pursuit of money, but travails after doomed love. Vixen’s, because they use their sexual prowess to attract their love interest, but tragic in that they rarely get what they’re hoping to achieve, often leaving themselves completely screwed, abandoned, or outright dead.

The Tragic Vixen shouldn’t be confused with the scorned woman turned psycho killer, like Evlyn (Jessica Walter in “Play Misty for Me”) or Alex Forest (Glenn Close in “Fatal Attraction”). The Tragic Vixen may want revenge, but it doesn’t come in the form of murder, it comes in the form of psychological warfare.

Self-esteem and the Tragic Vixen simply don’t mix. They’re alcoholics, drug addicts, suicidal, and sexually deviant. But most of all they’re dreamers. They romanticize they’re eventual doom. They’re on a collision course with an ugly fate and they know it, even embrace it at times, gladly trading death with a shot at love, even if for a single night.

So here’s Grumpy Guy’s Cinematic Tragic Vixens Hall of Fame

Sarah Packard (Piper Laurie)
THE HUSTLER (1961)
Dir. Robert Rossen
Starring: Paul Newman – Piper Laurie – George C. Scott – Jackie Gleason

“Perverted, twisted, crippled” That’s a harsh way for a girl to think of herself, but that’s exactly what Sarah Packard (Piper Laurie) writes on a mirror after had having sex with Bert Gordon (George C. Scott) the villain of “The Hustler”. On one hand, Sarah is simply doing what Sarah does, getting drunk and getting laid. But her betrayal of her man Fast Eddie (Paul Newman) can also be described as a sacrifice. If she can take Bert down with her, then she can save Eddie, the man she loves, from becoming like Bert, an empty, corrupt, vessel — or become like her, as Bert so mercilessly puts it:

BERT:
…you’re a wreck on a railroad track. You’re a horse that finished last.

Despite the great pool being shot, the skill, the gamesmanship, “The Hustler” is really about Sarah, as Fast Eddie makes clear to Bert in the films final showdown.

EDDIE
We really stuck the knife in her, didn’t we, Bert?

BERT
If it didn’t happen in Louisville, it’d happened someplace else. If it didn’t happen now, it’d happen six months from now. That’s the kinda dame she was.

EDDIE
And we twisted it, didn’t we, Bert?

Laurie’s performance is incredibly touching. Her Sarah aspires towards the arts, but has no real talent. She’s smart, but she drinks and has been partially disabled by polio. She goes to school, has her own place. She’s independent, but in constant danger of falling into a very dangerous and dark place. It’s a very thin line that separates Sarah from the safe, domestic ritual of the independent working woman, from the hustlers, pushers and pimps. She always only one drink away from them.

Sarah’s “sacrifice” forces Eddie to look in the mirror, just as she had to, and make a choice. He’s either going to continue to be the prostitute to Bert’s pimp, or he’s going to become a free human being, and in the process, set Sarah free as well.

Martha (Elizabeth Taylor)
WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966)
Dir. Mike Nichols
Starring: Elizabeth Taylor – Richard Burton – George Segal – Sandy Dennis

Call her vulgar, call her a lush, call her a tramp, but don’t call Martha a victim. Step into Martha’s world and she owns your ass. The only person that can challenge her in any way is her seemingly squeamish husband George (Richard Burton). Martha and George are caught in a purgatory battle of psychological and emotional abuse so destructive it has the potential to kill.

So how is it that Martha (a 34 year old Elizabeth Taylor) a woman on her last legs, a smoker, an alcoholic, a cheater, a liar, overly plump, foul mouthed – can come off as one of the sexiest characters to grace the American screen? To be frank, I think it’s her body. Elizabeth Taylor knew how to use her body to great effect. Like Marilyn Monroe, she was beautiful, but she had a body that would not quit. Elizabeth Taylor understood Martha. They’re both at the age when things are starting to expand and hang a little. The lines are getting darker. Things are a bit frayed around the edges. And yet. There’s still a hell of a lot of mileage left on that engine.

Like Mrs. Robinson, Martha is angry and resentful at the hand life has dealt her, and she is bent on revenge. But unlike Mrs. Robinson, her chance at transformation has passed, she is stuck with George, the “cluck”, and can only make the best of it. This is done by ridicule and humiliation, sometimes at his expense, sometimes at hers, but nobody ever wins this grotesque, psychological war.

Martha is a force of nature. The mother earth. She will not be denied. It is a performance that I would never have thought Taylor capable of from watching her previous films. But it was “Taylor” made.

Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine)
THE APARTMENT (1960)
Dir. Billy Wilder
Starring: Jack Lemmon – Shirley MacLaine – Fred MacMurray

A close cousin to Piper Laurie’s “Sarah Packard” character in “The Hustler”, Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine) suffers from a serious bout of low self-esteem, which makes her an easy target of the player, the hustler, or the pimp. In this case, Mr. Sheldrake played to perfection by Fred MacMurray.

As cute as Shirley MacLaine is as Ms. Kublik, she’s one severely screwed up character. She’s got daddy issues, dating a married man twice her age, that plays her like a ho, handing her a one hundred dollar bill for a Christmas present after he fucks her. She tries to kill herself over the guy, in a desperate attempt for his attention. And her affair with Mr. Sheldrake doesn’t appear to be her first, as suggested by her brother in-law, who finds her hiding out with Baxter after her suicide attempt.

MATUSCHKA:
It’s none of my business what you do, Fran — you’re over twenty- one — but your sister happens to think you’re a lady.

People are often fooled by this classic. The performances and overall atmosphere can be construed as lighthearted, but “The Apartment” is a dark film. C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) lends his apartment out for a place his superiors at the office can take their mistresses to. In return they move Baxter to the top of their promotion list. It’s all working out great until Baxter finds out that the woman he’s in love with, Fran Kubelik, an elevator girl, is having an affair with the boss Mr. Sheldrake, and they’re using Baxter’s apartment for their affair.

What we’re talking about here are pimps and hos in the corporate world. In that analogy we know what category Billy Wilder has put Fran Kubelik in. What Baxter slowly begins to realize is that he’s something of a Madam running a brothel, and as sick as the idea of Ms. Kublick screwing Mr. Sheldrake makes him, it’s really his participation in their twisted ritual that’s fucking him up.

But none of that matters, because Shirley MacLaine as Ms. Kubelik is too fucking adorable not to try to rescue from mean Mr. Sheldrake. Even if it’s her own god damn stupidity that got her in that fucked up situation to begin with.

Mrs. Robinson (Ann Bancroft)
THE GRADUATE (1967)
Dir. Mike Nichols
Starring: Dustin Hoffman – Ann Bancroft - Katherine Ross

Mrs. Robinson has a lot in common with Martha from “Woolf”. Heading into middle age, Mrs. Robinson’s seems bent on revenge. For what and at whom is somewhat of a mystery.

Mrs. Robinson’s (Ann Bancroft) famous seduction of Ben (Dustin Hoffman) is a marvel to behold. Like a cat with a mouse, she toys with Ben, easily manipulating him, fucking him with her mind before they ever get into bed. Like a dominatrix, she tests his will, demanding that he come up to her bedroom, and when he does, completely exposes herself to him, knowing full well that his virgin curiosity will eventually get the better of him.

Ben seems to be a target of Mrs. Robinson from the beginning, seemingly for a sexual conquest, but later as a tool for transformation. Mrs. Robinson isn’t out to destroy Ben’s life, but to sabotage her own, going to that place where there is no returning to, where the only way she can survive is to start over somehow. What better way than to psychologically kill yourself and your entire family in the process, to be reborn from the burned ashes.

What’s amazing about Bancroft’s performance is that I never really saw her play anything like it again. As a matter fact, everything else I’ve seen her in has been very hammy. Maybe because she married Mel Brooks. But here, the sadness, the anger, the regret, are all just underneath the surface of a, humorous, frightening, seductive dance.

Erika Kohut (Isabelle Huppert)
THE PIANO TEACHER (2001)
Dir. Michael Haneke
Starring: Isabelle Huppert – Annie Girardot - Benoît Magimel

At the point the viewer catches Erika Kohut in her life, she hasn’t become a serial killer yet, but she’s seems well on her way. This is one of the most intense character studies ever depicted on film. Grim, haunting, frightening, and yes, sexy, is Isabelle Hubbert, the aging piano teacher, who does not distinguish between physical torture and love.

She’s gone beyond the Sarah Packard’s, the Martha’s and the Mrs. Robinson’s of the cinematic world. Erika is a psychotic, with a black hole in her so massive, no amount of sex, perversions, or mutilations, that she seems to practice at every opportunity, can heal it. Where does her sociopathic behavior materialize from? It could be from her strange relationship with her demanding mother, who Erika shares a bed with, or perhaps some unknown abuse as a child.

Hubbert’s performance is remarkable. Her Erika is constantly searching for an emotional fix, like a junkie, unable to reach that same high they got the first time. Her methods in obtaining that fix are perverse, embarrassing and dangerous and always fascinating. The last shot is unforgettable, the pain on Hubbert’s face, self inflicted and earned, captures the intensity of the entire film and character in one agonizing moment. A mere 24 frames expressing a lifetime of anguish.

Bree Daniels (Jane Fonda)
KLUTE (1971)
Dir. Alan J. Pakula
Starring: Jane Fonda – Donald Sutherland – Roy Scheider

Fonda won an Oscar for her portrayal of Bree Daniels, a prostitute that’s targeted by a serial killer. But I don’t think Fonda’s performance has aged that well, but some of it isn’t her fault, and comes from the script itself.

BREE:
Is it the shakedown hon? You picked a loser, I just don’t have it.

Who talks like that, even for New York ’71? What’s interesting is the parallel universe that the film explores when it comes to acting/modeling and prostitution. Bree is often humiliated while auditioning for an acting role or modeling gig. But when it comes to playing the part of prostitute, she’s got it down as she shares with her analyst:

BREE:
I arrive at their hotel or their apartment… and they’re usually nervous, which is fine, because I’m not. I know what I’m doing. For an hour…I’m the best actress in the world.

It was only in the TV transcript that I found some of the dialogue between Bree and her analyst, it wasn’t in the original script, which leads me to believe that in order to make Bree a stronger character, the extra scenes with the analyst were added or improvised. But it doesn’t change the fact that Bree is basically a damsel in distress, like Fran Kubelik in “The Apartment”, with the knight in shining armor, Klute (Donald Sutherland) attempting to rescue her from the forces of evil.

Bree languishes between the world of the Femme Fatale and the Tragic Vixen. She makes money off her sexuality, but doesn’t seem to be looking for the big score. At the same time she entertains men, she doesn’t have one of her own, nor seems to need one or want one, despite the fact that one wants her. Her thing is heroin not men, her dream is acting, and at the end of the film Bree gives the impression that despite Klute’s knight in shining armor routine, little in her world is going to change.

Theresa Dunn (Diane Keaton)
LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR (1977)
Dir. Richard Brooks
Starring: Diane Keaton – Richard Gere – Tuesday Weld – Tom Berenger

It’s been too long since I’ve seen this one to review Keaton’s performance, and it doesn’t appear to be available on DVD, but I’m including it anyway on the suggestion of a friend. What I remember is being completely depressed at the ending. This character may not fit the Tragic Vixen prototype, but by what I remember and what I can read on the Interwebs, she comes damn close.

Some analysis by Kathryn Schleich from her book “Hollywood and Catholic Women: Virgins, Whores, Mothers, and Other Images” describes Theresa as a woman who:

“– refuses to be dominated by the patriarchal present in both society and Roman Catholic church — Theresa fights back, wanting responsibility for her own autonomous life.”

“Throughout the film, each of the men in Theresa’s life try to dominate her. And when that fails, their hostility towards women breaks through.”

One of these men in the film is her father, who when he finds out Theresa has refused to marry the man he thinks she should marry, becomes violently hostile. Theresa has a revengeful streak, mostly towards her father, who she re-imagines in the men she picks up, quickly discarding them, humiliating them in the process, while remaining in complete control.

Theresa has a little Sarah Packard, Mrs. Robinson, Ms. Kubelik, Martha and Bree Daniels running through her blood. Like Ms. Kubelik, she appears to be the girl next door, but isn’t. Like Mrs. Robinson, she’s attempting a transformation, but like Martha is unable to complete it. Like Bree Daniels the transformation is attempted through many sexual partners, but like Sarah Packard, her journey leads to a tragic end.

I’m sure there are plenty other examples, but these are the ones that stick out in my mind when it comes to the Tragic Vixen.

ROY SCHEIDER: 1932-2008

Roy Scheider had a memorable face, a throwback movie stars face, like Bogart or Cagney. His features weren’t handsome, but they were tough, sharp and angled. Never a major star, somehow Scheider landed roles in some of the most memorable films of the 70’s, two of which are the best of all time, “Jaws” and “The French Connection”. The decades following the 70’s weren’t particularly kind to Scheider, but from a fans perspective it doesn’t matter, he made his mark, and his performances will continue to delight.

KLUTE (1971)
Dir. Alan J. Pakula
Starring: Jane Fonda – Donald Sutherland – Roy Scheider

Fonda, in an Oscar winning role, plays upscale prostitute/junkie Bree, who happens to be the target of a mad killer. Sutherland is Klute, whose investigation about a missing friend has led him to Bree. Scheider, in his sleaziest role, plays Bree’s pimp Frank. The screen time was minimal, but Scheider, with his leathering skin and wirey frame, cuts a menacing figure.

THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)
Dir. William Friedkin
Starring: Gene Hackman – Roy Scheider – Fernando Rey

Scheider plays Buddy Russo, partner to Gene Hackman’s academy award winning portrayal of Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle, whose ugly investigation techniques have a tendency to get his fellow officers killed. Together they stumble upon what turns out to be a major drug smuggling operation, run by Alain Charnier played by Fernando Rey. If done right, the bust will set Doyle and Russo up for a promotion. But Doyle’s mojo is bad, and he finds himself making the same mistakes he’s made in the past, leading to tragic results. Scheider plays the loyal sidekick with integrity, intelligence and tough charm, neither stepping on Hackman’s toes nor taking a back seat. With both “Klute” and “Connection” released in ’71, it’s somewhat surprising that Scheider wasn’t in another memorable role until four years later.

JAWS (1975)
Dir. Stephen Spielberg
Starring: Roy Scheider – Robert Shaw – Richard Dreyfus

Scheider is Chief Martin Brody. He’s recently moved his family from NY to the small peaceful town of Amenity, hoping to escape the hazards and dangers of the big city. All too soon, Brody discovers it doesn’t matter where you run to, the monsters that endanger a family in the big city are just as prevalent in the small towns of America, in this case it takes the form of a great white shark.

What stands out most in Scheider’s performance is the humor and comic timing he brings to the role. Brody isn’t completely comfortable in his uniform, or with his authority, with the locals or with the water around the island. Scheider is able to use his carved face to it’s most potential when it comes to merely reacting to the environment around him.

The moment when the shark first appears is a classic moment, where Brody, trying desperately not to show how scared he is, pulls off the greatest cinematic double take of all time, followed by one of the greatest lines. “We’re going to need a bigger boat.”

“Jaws” is a great monster movie and rousing adventure. And besides “Duel” is the only Spielberg movie that Grumpy Guy breaks out again and again to watch, and it’s always a pleasure to anticipate the many great scenes that Scheider made so memorable.

MARATHON MAN (1976)
Dir. John Schlesinger
Starring: Dustin Hoffman - Laurence Olivier – Roy Scheider - William Devane

Coming off his star making role in “Jaws”, Scheider may have been given more screen time than his character warranted, but none of it is wasted, as he turns out a charming and heartbreaking performance as Dustin Hoffman’s mysterious brother Henry “Doc” Levy, an international thief/spy, whose dealing with Dr. Christian Szell, an ex Nazi on the run, leads to horrifying results.

“Marathon Man” is a solid entertainment in the genre of the 70’s paranoid thriller, like “Three Days of the Condor” and “The Parallax View”. Scheider is given many moments to shine, including one of the most brutal fight scenes ever to be put on film.

SORCERER (1977)
Dir. William Friedkin
Starring: Roy Scheider - Bruno Cremer - Francisco Rabal

According to Wiki, Director William Friedkin regretted hiring Scheider for the lead role of Jackie Scanlon, and basically blamed the commercial failure of his film on his casting choice which originally was supposed to go to Steve McQueen. But Scheider is fine in the film as the leader of a crew of criminals hired to drive a pair of trucks through the back roads of South America, loaded with nitroglycerin. Every bump in the road, every dip, every shake of the engine could bring them sudden death. Not as good as the original, “Wages of Fear”, but a very suspenseful, compelling film. Later Friedkin admitted that releasing the film against “Star Wars” was a mistake. Ironically, the film that made Scheider a star, “Jaws”, also contributed to the downfall of directors like Friedkin and movies like “Sorcerer”.

ALL THAT JAZZ (1979)
Dir. Bob Fosse
Starring: Roy Scheider - Jessica Lange - Leland Palmer - Ann Reinking

Perhaps Scheider’s best performance and completely unexpected. Up to this point, Scheider’s roles had mostly been in action flicks. Here he plays Broadway dance choreographer and director Joe Gideon. Scheider is excellent in this Fellini-esque, semi-biographical account of Bob Fosse’s turn in directing Dustin Hoffman in “Lenny”. It’s been a while since Grumpy Guy has seen this one, but it’s sitting in my girlfriend’s VHS library as I write this. I’ll be dusting it off this weekend in honor of Roy.

R.I.P. Roy Scheider.